Magdalena Gathering

THANK YOU SUZON FOR THIS NICE ADDITION! THANKS TO ...

2008-06-30T01:57:00.000+10:00

THANK YOU SUZON FOR THIS NICE ADDITION!
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR PRESENCE THERE AND THEN!GREAT TO HEAR YOU LAUGH!
THAT EASTER SHOWING HAS GIVEN ME A WONDERFUL BOOST: I AM READY TO PRESENT MY FINAL 1 HOUR VERSION IN MY SHED THEATRE IN AUGUST BEFORE GOING TO MONTREAL IN OCTOBER TO PRESENT IT BOTH IN ENGLISH AND IN FRENCH.
THANKS TO THAT EASTER SHOWING, THIS SHOW IS NOW CONDENSED AND MUCH SIMPLIFIED (NO MORE SCREEN, NOR RACK, NOR SHADOW THEATRE) AND HAS GAINED IN STRENGTH AT MANY LEVELS, I FEEL, AS SUSPENSE AND AMBIGUITY ARE SUSTAINED TILL THE VERY END.
HOPE I'LL SEE YOU SOON!
CHEERS!
MO.

very moving photo of you Helen, performing live wi...

2008-04-15T11:44:00.000+10:00

very moving photo of you Helen, performing live with the toy theatre: it gives a sense of scales, Gulliver and Liliput, that i feel often while manipulating avatars like puppets, plus the presence of the computer which mediates/transposes the poetry to the audience.

as i was preparing the workshop about documenting ...

2008-04-09T17:37:00.000+10:00

as i was preparing the workshop about documenting performance for the Easter gathering, i looked on internet and in books if there was a kind of dotted format document which could address the subject and that i could use as a starting point.
couldnt find anything satisfying, so i started a map and ask Bree to help me as she has to talk about documentation to her students.
so these 2 maps are a first result of our collaboration and are meant to be continued/evolving with time, demands, technology, etc...
so the first map was used to show how intricate documentation process is and intrinsic to our work. The second map is developing one of the branches of the first one in more practical details.
so at the gathering, after reading the maps together with participants, we split into groups choosing which one we wanted to join in order to share our various experiences that we gave back to the group. This eventually will reshape the maps! voila! bzzzzz suzon

Suzonand Bree - your map looks very useful and tho...

2008-04-08T18:54:00.000+10:00

Suzonand Bree - your map looks very useful and thorough. Could I have some context for it? Where did it come from? Is this what you have both authored? How was it used in the Magdalena Easter Weekend? xxjulie

Herewith comments/contributions on the subject of ...

2008-04-07T11:16:00.000+10:00

Herewith comments/contributions on the subject of BREASTS from anonymous participants of the Easter Workshop 2008.

• Large, pendulous, annoying in summer and yet very comforting in winter. The seasons of life played out across their surface.

• All work, like all breasts, benefit from firm underwire(support).

• Breast, soft, silk, duo in ideal, producing milk, the nectar needed to make us grow. A model of how? Without aesthetic surgery!

• Breasts and ovaries speak of new life, both pre and immediately post-birth. I can’t imagine any better metaphor for the experience of my first Magdalena Gathering. From the conception moment of my being selected thro’ the gestation of my suddenly writing to a deadline, meeting with my facilitator and establishing a genuinely supportive relationship through meeting the other women at the Gathering (almost as a team of loving midwives), we came to the time of birthing – the first entry of my theatrepiece into the “outside wortld”. Where it would face its first appraisal by a range of eyes, ears, etc. In that birthing, the image above is my attempt to show what I felt. Especially through my facilitator, but thro’ everyone too, I felt held in strong but cradling arms; I felt as the newborn does, the continual reassurance of the maternal heartbeat in the enabling vibrations from everyone. It almost removed fear, as would be there if facing a real audience. I felt safe. I was sure to be given a cushioned , soft landing. And as breast milk is natural and does not harm (unlike processed canned milk), the feedback I imbibed was nutrient-rich (i.e. honest, worthwhile, informed) and a powerful support for each new step of my infancy-to maturity as a theatre-maker and artist.

• The New Work as Breast: New ones are but rosebuds, packed tight and sometimes tender to touch. It is too soon for support, one must be patient and trust that one day they will be fully developed. Mine are cupcakes. I can hold them all within my two hands. I know the recipe. I share my first batch with confidence. How is the taste? Ahhh, a little too sweet? I will add more salt. My cupcakes are well-supported. They are constantly changing, sometimes hairy, sometimes hard. Behind them a strong heart-beat. They respond to attention, sometimes with a firm hand to massage, other times just a little tweak. But always we must be gentle with our breasts and each others’ because if mishandled, they won’t fall off but it will hurt. Because remember, they are attached to a living, breathing, feeling soul.

• BREAST: erotic, soft, comfort, sustenance, dangerous, saggy.

• When I show my work at this gathering, I am bearing my breasts in the company of women, and some trusted men. How do I bare them?: slowly, shyly, How vulnerable do I feel? What courage does it take?

• Breast/Chest: the place where the heart lives, contained and protected. The breast, and also the arms, are open or closed to the ‘other’ and so the heart is also OPEN or CLOSED to the ‘other’. A place of COMFORT and NURTURE, giving and receiving pleasure and comfort. BREASTS are a place of RESPONSE: physical response and EMOTIONAL response. They are also a MAJOR biological identifier of our female gender, they IDENTIFY and DISPLAY our femininity.

• Breasts: Round, my favourite performing space, where ‘flowering’ can occur. Pointy tits for pointy details of dramatic direction. Labor of love, an essential. Mountains of beauty for me to express my juice, juicy femininity. No mistake, they are not necessarily there for the “show”, yet I enjoy seeing them so much. No, we are not cancer carriers and not to be removed, OK?

• I am not my breasts. I am not my ovaries. I am not my head, nor my legs, nor my skin, nor my womb, nor my lungs, nor my kidneys, nor my eyes……etc. I am more than the sum of my parts. I am my work. Now I am also your response to my work. I am your work as I respond to your work. (and now I am also chocolate!)

great, congratulations! would be great if you coul...

2008-03-29T09:22:00.000+10:00

great, congratulations! would be great if you could let me know the details so i can post it to the international magdalena list.

helen : )

Hi Kaye! I completely agree with you about Suzon a...

2008-03-27T23:07:00.000+10:00

Hi Kaye! I completely agree with you about Suzon and Donna!

What a wonderful visual reminder this bus will be of the way shared creative energies can fuel and enrich personal journeys. Will look forward to hearing more songs and stories as the wheels on the bus/es keep turning round and round!

Thanks to all of the inspirational people at the Gathering that shared this wonderful trip with me...and a special and resounding thank you to Suzon for all her work on this extraordinary blog! Breathtaking in its scope and so inspiring!!!!!

so rewarding that you did it, Kay! congrats!

2008-03-27T18:34:00.000+10:00

so rewarding that you did it, Kay! congrats!

posted on behalf of Donna Cameron:GATHERING THE HE...

2008-03-27T17:09:00.000+10:00

posted on behalf of Donna Cameron:
GATHERING THE HEART. (The Breasts)
Our breasts protect our heart.
‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ Antoine De Saint-Exupery.
Great theatre is like music, transcending language barriers and cultures speaking directly from the heart, to the heart. May the theatre maker always reach a point during their process when they move from the head, the domain of the intellect, down into the heart. This requires a brave heart for truth resides in the heart. Talking about our own and each other’s work can keep us intellectualising, theorising, hiding behind barriers of words. During our gathering however I saw hearts open and the truth spill out gently in all it’s grace. This I feel was only possible because the atmosphere created was one of protective nurturing, soft and warm like our breasts.

SHOOTING FROM THE SOLAR PLEXUS (The Ovaries)
Disseminate – to spread as by sowing seed. The ovaries are the guardians of the seed. During the gathering disseminate appeared to be our favourite word. One morning I heard it used five times in ten minutes. I saw many seeds sowed over the three days I attended. It was a joy to watch women disseminating all over the place, without a care in the world.
The ovaries are also situated in the same area as the solar plexus, which are the nerves at the pit of our stomach. As a performer I always aim to bring my performance up and out from the solar plexus. I’m not always successful but when I am those nerves relax and suddenly I’m free to soar, to fly. I have some lovely memories of women flying during our gathering. May we all continue to shoot from the solar plexus and spread our fertile seeds into the wider theatre community without fear of ridicule.
‘Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities’. Sue Atchley Ebaugh.

Letter 2 from the BRISBANE Easter Magdalena Gather...

2008-03-27T17:06:00.000+10:00

Letter 2 from the BRISBANE Easter Magdalena Gathering 2008

From the OVARIES:
1. Each month they ‘ping’, ‘twang’, sing, reminding me that I’m still fertile, and that I’m waiting to sing a different song!

2. Juice…Life…Finite…

3. The producing factory, the making in its turmoil, its bloody gutsy energy, allowing us to multitask at multi ages, and still going through the menopause holocaust, keeping eventually in its maturation, the sweetness of raisins.

4. copper wire

5. Ideas = eggs. Large supply, stored away. Released sometimes regularly, sometimes irregularly.
When one is released, if nothing is done, it then goes away.
Sometimes an egg germinates, is nurtured and brought to fruition.

6. Over
Ovary
Oh! Vary!
Ovaries
O as in vOid
V as checked and may be too much
Attention, please!
Roll in pleasure
Y have they been so abused and exploited by Western medicine?!

Suzon you are a miracle worker. The bus brings ba...

2008-03-27T13:05:00.000+10:00

Suzon you are a miracle worker.
The bus brings back so many memories of a fabulous weekend.

Donna's comments are wonderful. She really has a way with words.

I am crawling my way through learning how to use this blog. I have no idea where this comment will end up, if anywhere.

During the workshop we broke into small groups to ...

2008-03-26T18:00:00.000+10:00

During the workshop we broke into small groups to dig deeper into one of the areas of Documentation. The notes below where formulated afterwards by Liz Skitch and comes from the Publicity and video group.

Promotional Material

The following promotional methods are employed by Liz in her work with her community theatre group.

Casting Advertisement- this can create a lot of initial interest and awareness of the production
Press Release- Liz creates a few different types: One for full article/ one is a short blurb
Photos for Press- these are taken at rehearsals and sent out with press releases/ also displayed in the foyer
Articles are published by local papers and these are kept for archival purposes
Posters/ Flyers are printed to advertise the show
Programme is always kept to archive the show

Radio Advertisements and Radio Interviews are recorded for archival purposes

Also useful promotional tools:
Word of Mouth – of course!
Raffle- the locals all buy tickets for the raffle in the lead up to the show- this is also great promotion

Video

The following process was employed by deBASE productions to create an interactive, educational dvd package for their latest production, ‘The Clown from Snowy River’.

What was created:
The Show DVD: contains 5 minute trailer of the show and a full length shoot of the show.
The Behind the Scenes DVD:
1. Takes the viewer step by step through the rules of clown. Each rule is explained to camera by the directors and supported with footage from the rehearsal room to demonstrate each rule. Each rule is accompanied by a clown exercise, which can be carried out in the classroom or rehearsal room. Once all the rules of clown have been introduced, examples of devising tasks are given.
2. Backstage pass. Two student artists go backstage to ‘The Clown from Snowy River’ and interview actors as they are getting ready for the show.
3. History of deBASE. This is a digital story of the history of deBASE productions, commentated by the deBASE team. It features archival photos of deBASE’s 10 years of work as well as live footage from shows.

Who it is for:
The Interactive, educational dvd package is for teachers and students studying clown, devising new work, theatre, Australian history or indigenous studies.

The Show DVD is also sent to producers who might re-stage the show or work with deBASE on a new show.

Purpose:
• Promotional
• Archival
• Training
• Sharing our process (through sharing our process, others can use it to create their own new work)
• Regional Outreach (the dvd can travel further than us)
• Time efficiency (it is not cost or time effective for deBASE to run workshops in schools, instead we can offer the DVD package)

Background:
We carried out research with drama teachers and students to find out what they wanted included in the package. For example: students wanted to see students in the footage, not just the professional artists. So we invited students into the rehearsal room and they trained with us.
A quality assurance team of drama teachers came together to review the product at different stages of development.

How we did it:
deBASE employed ‘pixel frame’, a multimedia company in the Valley to help us identify how to create it and what to include. They then came to selected training sessions, rehearsals and eventually the show. They shot with 3 cameras and fully edited both the show dvd and the behind the scenes dvd.

How did we fund it?

This was self-funded. We applied for funding but were unsuccessful. The package retails at $132 and we have now sold 150 copies to schools in Qld. We have now broken even but still have 350 copies to sell. Next, we intend to launch it in other states.

For further information:

www.debaseproductions.com

thought provoking helen, we had a great discussion...

2008-03-22T14:10:00.000+10:00

thought provoking helen, we had a great discussion aftwerwards also about the medium

loved to see the flexibility around the structure ...

2008-03-22T01:37:00.000+10:00

loved to see the flexibility around the structure of the program.... does this assume everyone is there for the whole weekend and therefore can be flexible around when they present work etc?? The board looked like fun process...